


Interlocked

by Tassos



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Bound Together, Community: trope_bingo, First Kiss, M/M, Wordcount: 1.000-5.000
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-04
Updated: 2013-10-04
Packaged: 2017-12-28 08:50:45
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,338
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/990090
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tassos/pseuds/Tassos
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Merlin and Gwaine are shackled together. There's kissing.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Interlocked

**Author's Note:**

> Beta thanks to Chicago_Ruth

"Well. This is a bit uncomfortable."

Despite their situation, Merlin smiles at the understatement. He can't see Gwaine's face, just the bleak, black stone of the dungeon wall and the tiny barred window over Gwaine's shoulder. They cell they are in now is bigger and has heavier iron doors than the first one they'd been thrown into. That morning, after they were first captured, they were shut up in what had probably been a storage cupboard in the cellar. The door had been locked and barred of course, but the hinges had been on the inside, very helpful for their escape attempt earlier. They just hadn't counted on the whole band feasting on their spoils in the hall at the top of the stairs. The whole band and their sorcerer.

He's not a very powerful sorcerer -- it was a bit embarrassing actually -- but he did have enchanted iron shackles he'd clasped around both Merlin and Gwaine's wrists. So here they were, locked up again.

"Merlin, while your hands are back there, could you scratch -- yes, a little bit higher." Gwaine sighs as Merlin uses what little movement of his hands he has to scratch the small of Gwaine's back. Merlin sighs too and rests his chin on Gwaine's shoulder. Enchanted shackles and they are bound together front to front like interlocking rings. Merlin's left arm goes over Gwaine's shoulder and his right arm is trapped underneath Gwaine's opposite arm. Their knees knock every time they try to move. Without magic, Merlin doesn't know how he's going to get them out of this one. 

"At least it's you and not Percival," he says "That would be even more uncomfortable."

"But then you'd be wrapped up all safe in his massive arms," says Gwaine.

"With my face smashed to his chest? No thanks." At least this way Merlin can see, and he only has to deal with the distracting sensation of Gwaine's hair brushing his cheek. It's surprisingly soft, though it does tickle. He presses his cheek closer to stop the barely there dancing along his skin.

"What are you doing?" Gwaine's breath ghosts over the back of Merlin's neck, sending an unexpected shiver down his spine.

"Your hair itches."

"It's clean."

"Not what I meant."

"You're just jealous because my hair isn't like black straw," Gwaine says.

"You're as vain as Arthur about your stupid hair," Merlin says.

"At least you're not stuck with _him_."

Merlin has to think about that for a moment before agreeing. "He'd be ordering me about right now, insisting that he only had to move just so to get us out of this. And somehow it would all be my fault."

Gwaine laughs. "It _is_ all your fault."

"It's at least half yours," Merlin retorts. He wasn't the one who chose their "shortcut," after all. "Any ideas for getting us out?"

"I think this time we just have to stand here and embrace our fate," says Gwaine, his breath puffing as he suddenly hugs Merlin tight, lifting him till only his toes are on the ground. Merlin clutches Gwaine as best he can for balance, laughing and hitting Gwaine with his bound wrists at the same time. Gwaine gives him a good shake before setting him down.

"Very funny," says Merlin, slapping at Gwaine's back. Their laughter only masks the very real trouble they're in this time, but it feels easier to lean against him now, the tense edge they'd both been carrying since their recapture smoothed away. Gwaine is warm, and pressed this close, Merlin can feel the hard lines of his muscles, lean but strong. It's strength he's never been afraid to give over to Merlin simply because Merlin asked it of him. And look where Merlin's landed them. Merlin's not certain how he ever earned such trust from Gwaine, and he's both scared of it and grateful for it. He's been dreading the day all his lies come out and it's gone.

"No bright ideas then?" Gwaine asks after a minute.

"No, you?"

"No." Gwaine sighs again, arms tightening slightly. His breath this time does more than send a shiver down Merlin's spine.

"Sorry," Merlin says when he feels his blood stirring against the seam of Gwaine's thigh. He makes to move away, an embarrassed flush heating his skin, because this is neither the time nor the place, but Gwaine tugs him closer.

"Merlin, where are you going to go?" Gwaine says. "It's not as if I don't know what close quarters do to a man."

"Yes, but -"

"And it's not as if you're some stranger I don't know." Gwaine spreads one hand flat against Merlin's back, holding him still, and turns his head so his nose brushes Merlin's ear. Hot air and then the flick of Gwaine's tongue along the shell of his ear, and Merlin's cock goes from interested to standing at attention. His hips press forward on their own, seeking the friction of Gwaine's body.

"You're enjoying this," Merlin says when Gwaine chuckles in his ear, but then he feels the hot press of Gwaine's cock in their new position, and it feels like they're on even footing again.

"Don't tell me you've never thought about it." Gwaine pulls his head back as far as he can, and even though they're too close to really see each other well, Merlin thinks he sees Gwaine looking for more than his flippant words suggest. He wonders if it's the same thing he's been looking for in Gwaine.

"With you?" 

"With me."

Two words that in that moment hold too much. Merlin can't stand Gwaine's open, hopeful regard, but he can't stand even more the self-deprecating smile that creeps in as the moment draws out too long. He can see the shift as Gwaine's smile turns jovial and pasted on, the roguish soldier he is with the rest of the knights coming back to the fore.

Merlin grasps the back of Gwaine's shirt to hold him still, then steps one foot between Gwaine's to kiss him. Gwaine's lips are wet and his mouth, half-open to speak, gives beneath Merlin's tongue till they twine together, from mouth to groin.

When it's just the two of them together, Gwaine has never tried to hide from Merlin.

The iron clasps have no chain, keeping each of their wrists one on top of the other. It's awkward then when Merlin tries to bring his hands up, so he ends up holding Gwaine with his elbows.

When they finally come up to breathe, Merlin rests his forehead against Gwaine's. "I've thought about it," he says into the space between them, because he has. He's thought about not having to hide from Gwaine, and even though it's terrifying, he wants it. 

Gwaine laughs softly, like the whole world has shrunk to the enclosure of their arms. "Then we definitely need to figure a way out of this. I don't fancy dying before I get to shag you," he says.

Merlin wants that too. He wants to live and go home to Camelot and learn more about the side of Gwaine that only he gets to see. But with that lot upstairs, he doesn't have much hope for their chances. Except. "I've an idea," he says, closing his eyes. "And you'll probably hate me when you find out."

"I couldn't hate you," Gwaine says, fingers flexing on Merlin's back.

"Even if I was magic?" He says it lightly, like a jest.

"Merlin, if you were magic, that would mean we would live through this, so no, I still wouldn't hate you if you were magic. Wait," Gwaine's brain catches up with his words, and he pulls back again to look at Merlin. But his face holds no fear, no betrayal.

Merlin slowly grins as understanding slowly crosses Gwaine's face. "Well, the shackles are blocking my magic, but I have another thing I can try."

"Another-"

Merlin throws back his head before Gwaine can finish his question. If magic doesn't scare Gwaine off, he hopes a dragon won't either.


End file.
